1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing cooling storage units and a sales management system for the same.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
Refrigerated storage units for commercial use include, for instance, refrigerators, freezers, and freezer-refrigerators with integrated functions, have conventionally been manufactured and sold in the following described manner.
As shown in FIG. 15, a customer A, operating a restaurant or the like, would find the specifications of a refrigeration unit in a catalog or a similar information providing type of material, and submit an inquiry to a sales representative B of a dealer firm. The sales representative B then contacts the production management department C in the factory in order to determine the expected delivery date, price, and other aspects of the product. After final sales negotiations with customer A and acceptance of the terms and conditions, customer A places a formal order with the dealer firm.
The cooling storage unit basically consists of a thermally insulated box and a refrigerating device for cooling the interior. There are many types of thermally insulated boxes. The various boxes differ in cooling applications, i.e., from refrigerating to freezing, in shape and orientation, such as vertical and lateral (horizontal), in the number of doors, in storage capacity, and other respects. However, since the refrigerating device has to typically be customized to match the refrigerating capability and the storage capacity of the respective thermally insulated boxes, custom refrigerating devices are required as diverse as the thermally insulated boxes. It would be prohibitively difficult to design and produce all such potential refrigerating devices in advance and keep them in stock. Instead, the refrigerating devices are only generally made to order. The primary exceptions to this practice would be the standard models that are usually sold in large amounts. Consequently, conventional methods impose constraints with regard to short-term delivery times and cost reductions. Moreover, the fact that a thermally insulated box and a refrigerating device have to be newly designed, fabricated and assembled, into a cooling storage unit for every individual order creates the need to perform individual cooling tests for every unit prior to shipping. The cooling tests are required to make ensure that each cooling storage unit has a refrigerating capability as designed. However, the cooling tests result in a further delay of delivery.
One solution, as disclosed in Patent Reference 1, is a thermally insulated box designed to have a knockdown configuration so as to be assembled at the installation site of the cooling storage unit and thereby reduce some of the overall transportation costs. However, even with such a knockdown configuration, a refrigerating device matching a thermally insulated box would have to be designed for every individual refrigeration unit ordered and without exception, put through cooling tests once the refrigerating device is fitted to the thermally insulated box (typically at the installation site) Therefore, the knockdown approach cannot significantly contribute to speeding delivery and/or reducing costs.
Patent Reference 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-347159
An object of the present invention, determined in view of the circumstances noted above, is to provide a method of manufacturing cooling storage units, and a sales management system for the same, which can exclude the problems of a made-to-order production system which indispensably requires delay inducing pre-shipment cooling tests as described above.